Pros: - Solid tees
- Nicely carved fairways for first three holes
- Nice to have an open course in an area (Northern New England) known for punishing woods courses
- No bugs when I was there
- Good length for the holes I played
- Nice elevation changes

Cons: Only minor:
- Sign for the course was so small we almost drove by the place
- Sign-in area is pretty run down
- Baskets are rusty (who cares)

Other Thoughts: This is only a partial review, based on playing the first five holes during a brief trip through Saco. I'm trying not to bias my rating due to having the best five holes of my life at this course. After playing a miserable 3/4 round at Amesbury at 3 over, I finished up my day with a test run at Boom field. Holy crap!
Hole 1: parked for a 2
Hole 2: crap drive, hit 50 footer for a 2
Hole 3: parked approach for a 3
Hole 4: big drive, big approach to pin high left, missed 60 footer for a 4
Hole 5: pin high, hit 30 footer for a 2

6 under after 5 holes!! Even playing par 3 on all holes it was 2 under, including the 750 footer. If only I can play like that all the time, I would easily make $5,000 a year golfing (ha, ha).

The course was lovely, and I will be back without a doubt. If you are in the area, stop by, you will love it, especially after smacking trees at nearby courses. Cost $5 for an entire day of relaxing golf in scenic rolling hills, can't beat it.

Pros: The course was a short drive to the Old Orchard Beach area where there are a lot of other things to do.

There are benches & trash cans throughout the course. The course makes a full circle with #1 tee & #18 basket very close to the parking. Apparent upgrades have been made to the tee signs since previous reviews. They are now a plus. They have hole length, pin location info. and OBs identified when applicable. Most of the tees are in good shape now with grippy rubber mats. Some have additional length added via concrete slabs. (Some are made of large stone pavers... see Cons.) The baskets are single chain Innovas that seemed to catch pretty well. The chains are getting rusty on some but the baskets are otherwise in good shape. There are adequate next tee directions given so navigation isn't really an issue. The fairways had just been mowed when I was there and it had been dry for a while so the course was in excellent shape.

I really enjoyed the elevation change that came into play on many holes. Although virtually all of the holes are relatively or very open, throwing up steep hills or down, to frequently concealed pins, made for a lot of fun drives. There are about 3 distinctly right turning holes and 4 distinctly left turning holes. The other holes are generally straight and allow for more varied shot selections to get to the pins. There are no truly "wooded" holes on the course, but many of the pins are tucked in close to the trees so that errant tee shots & approaches can easily end up in the woods.

My typical drive is a little over 300' so there were about 7 pins that I couldn't reach off of the tee due to sheer distance, or due to distance plus elevation increase. It's was nice to get to air out several shots. While at the same time, several holes offered easy birdie opportunities to boost my ego.

The owner's 93 year old dad lives there and welcomed me to the course when I got there. And the owner (forgot his name) was there, setting up for a league when I left and was nice to talk with. Plus the locals who had showed up while I was wrapping up my rounds were cool, too.

Cons: If you have to have true wooded holes, there are none. If you have to have water, there is none. So the open nature of the course could be viewed as a negative.

A couple of the shorter holes (#6 & #11 especially) seemed kind of "gimmicky" due to their short distances and simple RHBH hyzer lines. They served to connect the holes before and after them, but could probably be adjusted some to make them fit in with the rest of the course better.

The course was mostly dry when I played, but you could see tractor tracks in dried mud on several of the holes so the course obviously has some very "soft" areas when it's been raining.

Holes #4 and #10, and possibly a couple others, use a series of 2' x 2' concrete pavers for the tees. They aren't perfectly even and could use some work. They create a bit of a trip hazard. And #10, in particular, drops off in front of the tee and doesn't seem very safe if you take a long run up for your tee shot. A couple of the rubber mats were on top of wood framed supports and are in need of repair as they were getting pretty "saggy."

This detail didn't affect my course rating at all, but the flies were out in force when I played. So be prepared to deal with them. (If you're from New England, you're probably already aware of this, though.)

Some people don't like pay to play courses, but $5 to play all day seemed totally reasonable to me for this course so it didn't affect my rating either.

Other Thoughts: Highlights: #4 just because getting to rip 2 drives on a hole is better than 1. I really enjoyed the short, up hill, right turning #9 a lot. The pin is tucked nicely into the edge of the woods and just made for a nice golf hole. (Sorry but I forgot to take a picture of #9.) #14 was very cool, playing down hill with the pin over a small gully lined with shrubs. I didn't go for the pin and laid up to a gap in the shrubs for an easy 3. But bigger, more confident, arms could easily go for the pin off of the tee for a deuce. And the closing 3 holes, playing severely up, down and back up hill made for a nice closure to the course. On #16, getting to throw up hill, over the gap in the trees, instead of through the gap, really made me feel good as I know I couldn't have even reached the trees a year or two ago.

I also got to play the Woodland Valley courses when I was in Maine and Boom Field served as a perfect contrast to those heavily wooded courses.

The par of 67 listed on the scorecard and hole info. here on DGCR is very generous. I would expect that par could easily be set at least 11 shots lower for experienced players as even I shot a 55 and a 53.

Given the opportunity, I think that a 2nd set of tees could probably be added... some shorter and some longer. This could really add to the courses appeal as I really enjoy 2 sets of tees in most cases.

As the title says, I thoroughly enjoyed Boom Field and the next time I'm visiting the area, I will most definitely go back. I can generally judge how much I like a course by how many of the holes I can visualize in my mind after playing it... and I can still imagine all 18 holes of Boom Field while I'm wishing that I was there.

Pros: Closest course to the summer beach areas like Old Orchard, Wells, etc. Nicely secluded with a good variety of shots including plenty of wide open long holes.

Cons: Very wet and swampy throughout. The main fields in the center of the course had water/mud up to your ankles. It rained the day before but it was sunny the day we played and it seemed unusually wet and mucky. It may not be as bad after a few days of sun so I'll update this review if I play it again.

Other Thoughts: Not enough holes in the woods, most in the open wet fields. Conditions felt more like a free course than a $5/round course.